Follow Up Messages and Confirmation Calls in Marketing Part II

A prospect is hot for your product or service but doesn’t buy. Why?

Because you didn’t Follow Up.

Your prospects are busy. And you’re busy too.

How many times have you seen a promotion and said to yourself, “I want that.”

It could be for a new car, a vacation, iPod, new cell phone, business software, book, even something as simple as a Pizza.

Let’s say you could afford it and you really want it, but didn’t buy it. Why not?

If we boil it down to one reason it would be –

It was the wrong time.

In other words you got busy with something else and put it off and forgot about it completely.

This happens to every single one of us – your prospect included. The most powerful marketing solution is to … Follow Up.

Follow Up gently or powerfully. Remind them they want it, it’s available, and they need to get it now.

In Part I of this article I wrote:

“Your customers want to know you care about them.

Once your marketing and advertising has opened the lines of communication, you have to make sure your customer knows you care about her business.

Keep her engaged.”

Follow Up is a vital piece of marketing and allows you to prove you care about her business and keep her (or him) engaged.

My own Marketing example

As a copywriter I get calls on a daily basis for free no-obligation quotes. Many people find me through ads or online and are curious how much hiring someone with my ability costs.

My follow up is straight forward. I reiterate what I did for them – usually a quote and sent them information they requested. I’ll include an endorsement from a client and ask them to respond; something along the lines of, “tell me what the next step is – Go, Hold, Full Stop.”

The purpose is to get them off the fence. Move forward or give me permission to stick them into a file and not think about them or their problems until they’re ready to move forward.

I’ll convert 1 out of 5 (Go) with the follow up alone. Just as important, 1 out 5 tell me Full Stop. The other 3 out 5 ask to be put on Hold (opportunity to convert them into clients at a later date).

• The Go clients get my full attention.
• The Full Stop prospects get deleted. I don’t have to waste one extra brain cell on them, postage stamp, or burn an electron in email for their problem.
• The Hold prospects stay in regular (and automated) communication.

You can adapt this to your own business.

If you sell a product, sell it to your Go customers. If you deal with a service, have your Go client sign your contracts.

In either a product or service business purge or delete the Full Stop prospects.

The Hold prospects are the most important. They represent your company’s growth. They want what you have. And since you know who they are, it is relatively inexpensive to engage them to get off the fence.

Surprise bonus -

Offer a surprise bonus if they step forward and complete the sale today. Always think of ways to reward positive action. Having a large group of Hold prospects is good for business. But having a higher percentage of them become clients today is better for business.

I’ll go over the next two areas (Survey and Bonuses) of this four part article in upcoming posts…

So check back in a day or two. And if you have something to add leave a comment or contact me directly.